Dear BC Members,

Thank you for your feedback regarding the election process, it is very helpful. I will compile all comments received and aggregate them in order to improve the election procedure as much as possible, and bring it to the Executive Committee for approval for the next election. The current election procedure was indeed approved by the Executive Committee prior to the opening of the election.

In terms of historical procedures I can only speak from 2011 onwards, date I started working for the BC, and the procedure was very similar to the current one for elections, I just compiled the document making the procedure clearer for members without changing the actual procedure itself. In the previous Secretariat’s procedures manual the procedure was indeed the same.

For this election I changed what Sarah mentioned and moved the date of the opening of the votes to the same date as the reception of ballots to avoid having members voting prior to the opening of the vote, as it happened in the last election. Thank you again for your feedback, Sarah.

Regarding the closed nomination process, as Chris mentioned the Voting Officer is bound by the BC Charter (Section 8.2.3 – Special Rules for Elections) to not announce nominations until the close of the nomination period. Members nominating or being nominated are allowed to announce their nominations if they so wish.

The actual process by which members submit their votes to bcvotes@hotmail.com is in place to allow access to the Verifying Officer and Returning Officer, and for records, but could be modified for members to submit their nominations directly to the BC list moving forward, if this is what members wish to do.

As previously noted I will gather all of the submitted comments, modify the election procedure for future elections, and submit it to the Executive Committee for approval.

Thank you ever so much,

Kind Regards,

Benedetta Rossi

BC Secretariat

bc-secretariat@icann.org

https://community.icann.org/display/gnsobc/Home

www.bizconst.org

From: owner-bc-gnso@icann.org [mailto:owner-bc-gnso@icann.org] On Behalf Of gabrielaszlak@gmail.com
Sent: jeudi 17 octobre 2013 08:23
To: svg@stephanevangelder.com; Michael Castello
Cc: Sarah Deutsch; Benedetta Rossi; bc - GNSO list
Subject: Re: [bc-gnso] BC GNSO Councilor & Small Business Seat on Nominating Committee Elections: Nominations close on Friday, Oct. 18th

Dear all,

I also do not know why nominations are private and I agree with Stephane -and others who have supported his initial comment-, on a more open process.

I am happy to share I have been also nominated for the GNSO councilor position.

Regards,
Gabi

Enviado desde mi BlackBerry de Movistar (http://www.movistar.com.ar)

---

From: Stephane Van Gelder Consulting <svg@stephanevangelder.com>

Sender: owner-bc-gnso@icann.org

Date: Thu, 17 Oct 2013 08:09:00 +0200

To: Michael Castello<michaelc@traveler.com>

ReplyTo: svg@stephanevangelder.com

Cc: Deutsch, Sarah B<sarah.b.deutsch@verizon.com>; svg@stephanevangelder.com<svg@stephanevangelder.com>; Benedetta Rossi<bc-secretariat@icann.org>; bc-gnso@icann.org<bc-gnso@icann.org>

Subject: Re: [bc-gnso] BC GNSO Councilor & Small Business Seat on Nominating Committee Elections: Nominations close on Friday, Oct. 18th

Thanks Michael,

Your gesture is much appreciated.

Best,

Stéphane Van Gelder
Chairman and Managing Director/Fondateur
STEPHANE VAN GELDER CONSULTING

T (FR): +33 (0)6 20 40 55 89
T (UK): +44 (0)7583 457053
Skype: SVANGELDER
www.StephaneVanGelder.com
----------------
Follow us on Twitter: @stephvg and "like" us on Facebook: www.facebook.com/DomainConsultant
LinkedIn: fr.linkedin.com/in/domainconsultant/

On 17 October 2013 05:02, Michael Castello <michaelc@traveler.com> wrote:

Hello Sarah,

Since there is appears to be consensus on open nominations; I placed Phil Corwin in nomination for the GNSO seat. 

Michael Castello
CEO/President
Castello Cities Internet Network, Inc.
http://www.ccin.com
michael@ccin.com

--

Wednesday, October 16, 2013, 2:53:01 PM, you wrote:

I agree.   We’ve spent countless hours as a constituency trying to fix a series of practices that could reasonably be perceived inside and outside the BC as election irregularities.  The entire notion of having “private nominations” is a vestige from our past closed practices.  

As a reminder, some of the election issues we’ve recently had to address included: (1) advocating for an actual fair election vs. the appointment of the Nomcom seat; (2) debating whether the separate seats on the Nomcom for small and large business representatives were somehow interchangeable; and (3) recent issues notifying members about the opening of the elections and then informing members who voted right away that their ballots were received “too early” and needed to be resubmitted.  

Can we all just agree that we should err on the side of openness with everything associated with BC elections?  If there are differing points of view, perhaps we consult with ICANN staff about the best way to address this concern?

Thanks,

Sarah




Sarah B. Deutsch 
Vice President & Deputy General Counsel 
Verizon Communications 
Phone: 703-351-3044 
Fax: 703-351-3670 



From: owner-bc-gnso@icann.org [mailto:owner-bc-gnso@icann.org] On Behalf Of Stephane Van Gelder Consulting
Sent: Wednesday, October 16, 2013 4:40 PM
To: Benedetta Rossi; bc-gnso@icann.org
Subject: Re: [bc-gnso] BC GNSO Councilor & Small Business Seat on Nominating Committee Elections: Nominations close on Friday, Oct. 18th

Hi everyone,

I would like te reiterate that I find it very odd that as a group, we prefer to have private nominations.

If I am willing to support someone, I have no qualms about making that support public. Moreover, I find it troublesome that as a BC member, I do not know until the nomination deadline has passed whether someone has been nominated for a position or not.

I am left with having to try to read into a reminder message such as this one whether it is being sent two days before the deadline because there have been no nominations, or because it's just two days before the deadline.

And if I did know what nominations had been made, especially if none had been made, I might be spurred on to reach out to other potential candidates and try to get them on board. But with the current private nomination system, I just don't know.

Is there a historical reason for having private nominations? Do others feel, like I do, that it's time to put an end to the secrecy and to run fully transparent election processes?

Thanks,

Stéphane Van Gelder
Chairman and Managing Director/Fondateur
STEPHANE VAN GELDER CONSULTING

T (FR): +33 (0)6 20 40 55 89
T (UK): +44 (0)7583 457053
Skype: SVANGELDER
www.StephaneVanGelder.com
----------------
Follow us on Twitter: @stephvg and "like" us on Facebook: www.facebook.com/DomainConsultant
LinkedIn: fr.linkedin.com/in/domainconsultant/

On 16 October 2013 18:47, Benedetta Rossi <bc-secretariat@icann.org> wrote:

From: BC Secretariat
Date:  October 16th, 2013
CC:     Glen De Saint Gery, Returning Officer ,Robert Hoggarth, Verifying Officer, bcvotes@hotmail.com
Re:     BC GNSO Councilor & Small Business NomCom Seat Elections: Reminder – Nominations Close on Friday, Oct.18th

Please note that this is the announcement for the BC elections for one of the two BC GNSO Councilor seats and the Small Business Seat on the Nominating Committee . Please note that the nomination period will close on Friday, October 18th. If you would like to submit a nomination, please follow the procedure outlined in the election procedure attached, and submit your nomination to the bcvotes@hotmail.com email address prior to Friday COB.  
Candidate statements should also be sent to the bcvotes@hotmail.com no later than Sunday, Oct. 20th. 
Once again, please refer to the attachment for the full details regarding this election.

Transmitted by the BC Secretariat:  Benedetta Rossi, serving as Voting Officer

-- 
Kind Regards,

Benedetta Rossi
BC Secretariat
bc-secretariat@icann.org
https://community.icann.org/display/gnsobc/Home
www.bizconst.org